


Panic! At The Dentist's Office

by Not_A_Valid_Opinion



Category: Psych
Genre: Panic Attacks, Shawn is helpful, Shawn is vague af, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-28
Updated: 2016-03-28
Packaged: 2018-05-29 18:10:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6387190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Not_A_Valid_Opinion/pseuds/Not_A_Valid_Opinion
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shawn knows how bad panic attacks can be. So when he sees somebody else having one, naturally, he steps in to give them a hand. One-shot.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Panic! At The Dentist's Office

**Author's Note:**

> I would like to personally apologize for the title of this fanfiction. I have failed you, God.

"AAAAlirity then, this is the place!" Shawn exclaimed in his normal, chipper voice. He had already done his big reveal, so all that was left was to catch the guy.

They had been investigating a case that was going about rather quickly. Long story short, there was a jealous boyfriend who killed his girlfriend (who had only been dating each other for three or so months, by the way) after he caught her cheating. They were just about at the end the case by arresting the boyfriend, Chad Bradley, at his work. Chad was an receptionist for a small dentist office at a strip mall, called _Clean and Neat._

Shawn, Gus, Detective Lassiter and Detective O'Hara burst into _Clean and Neat._ Lassiter and Juliet went in first, of course, guns a-blazin', and found Chad rather quickly. He was behind his receptionist desk, talking to what appeared to he another worker.

When Shawn and Gus followed the Detectives inside, they froze when they saw that Chad had pulled out a gun and was now pointing it at the other worker, who had tears streaming down her face. Chad's eyes were flaming with anger, and he held his hostage with a tight grip in front of him.

"Put down the gun, Bradley, it's over," Lassiter ordered, and Chad narrowed his eyes. He cocked his gun.

"It's not over until I say it's over. Now, if you don't leave me alone, I'm going to shoot her. Here's how this is going to go down," Chad said, pressing the gun further into the girls temple, earning a squeak of fear from the hostage. "You're going to let me out of here. I'm going to get in my car and go, unfollowed. If not, she's dead."

"You don't want to do this, Chad. Put the gun down," Juliet tried, and Chad was about to say something when he was tackled from behind, the gun ripped from his hands violently. Chad fell to the floor along with the cop who hit him, the hostage scrambling out of the way. The cop who had grabbed the gun helped pull her to saftey, away from the murderer.

Chad tried to get up from underneath the cop, but two more cops came and helped hold him down, putting handcuffs on him and reading his Miranda rights. Chad objected, but was pulled to his feet by the cops and ushered out of the building.

Shawn, from behind Juliet and Carlton, poked his head out. "Well, you were pretty useless, Lassie," He mocked jokingly, and Lassiter growled.

"It's not our job to get the guy every time, Shawn. There are other detectives on the force," Lassiter told him, and Shawn shared a proud glance with Gus for having bugged Carlton, earning and eye-roll from Gus.

"Come on, you two," Juliet said, putting her gun back in its holster and heading out, followed by Lassiter. Gus started to walk away as well, but stopped when he noticed Shawn not moving.

"Come on, Shawn." He said, but then he followed Shawn's eyes to the worker who was held at gunpoint by Chad. She had another cop next to her, asking if she was hurt. It was then that Gus realized that she was having a panic attack. The girl was shaking violently, and she was crying. Her pupils were constricted, and her breathing was halted and laboured. The cop looked to be oblivious, and must have not noticed the signs, mistaking her reaction as normal due to the circumstances. He put his hands on her arms as a sign of comfort, trying to help the girl up from where she was on the floor, but the girl, who was clearly panicking, flinched and jumped away from the cop, standing and stepping back, but her side smacked into a wall and she lost her balance.

Were it not for Shawn being there, she would have fallen and most likely fainted.

Shawn caught her, running over the moment he comprehended she was in distress.

"Hey, heyheyhey, don't worry, I got you," he said quietly as he caught her, lifting her back onto her feet and letting her go the second he didn't have to touch her any more.

She spun around to face him, her face still cloaked in distress, and she swayed a bit, going light-headed. She started to sink to the floor but Shawn caught her again, this time lowering her gently to the floor so she was on her knees, and so was he.

"Hey, stay awake, okay? Hey," he coaxed, shaking her lightly. The girl was breathing weakly, wheezing and taking short, painful breaths, as though she was being deprived of air.

"Hey, what's your name?" he asked, his voice low as though not to startle her. The cop and Gus watched them silently. Gus felt a sharp storm of De Ja Vu hit him.

The girl let out a strangled noise, that sounded like a mix between a weep and the letter A.

"Hey, stay awake, okay? Just take deep breaths. Okay? Breathe in through the nose, out through the mouth. See? Deep breathes" He instructed, demonstrating by moving one hand up when he breathed in and then moving it down when he breathed out, while keeping his other hand lightly on the girl's shoulder to steady her. The girl didn't seem to be objecting to the physical contact, so Shawn kept his hand there.

"One, two, three, four, in... One, two, three, four, out... One, two, three, four, in... One, two, three, four, out..." Shawn demonstrated, watching carefully as the girl started to do as told, and Shawn knew that it was helping, if only slightly.

"Good. See? You're doing great." Shawn praised.

It was at that moment when Lassiter and Juliet walked in, both looking faintly annoyed.

"Come ON, Spencer, let's-"

"SHHHH!" Gus shushed, pushing them back so that they didn't come near the girl or Shawn.

"What? Why? Sh-" Lassiter protested, but Gus cut him off.

"Shawn needs quite, and quite frankly, so does that lady, now you need to give them some space and you can _wait_ for him, okay?" Gus demanded. Juliet and Lassiter gapped at him.

"Why? What is he doing?" Juliet asked, peering around Gus to see Shawn sitting on his knees with a girl, talking too quietly for him to hear and moving a hand up and down slowly.

"Is that girl okay?" Lassiter asked, doing the same thing as Juliet.

"No, she is having and anxiety attack and Shawn is helping her through it. So please, be quite and do _not_ crowd them," Gus ordered, his tone hushed but serious. "No more questions, alright?"

Gus moved out of the way, allowing them through, but he made sure they didn't go too far in.

"Hey, can you tell me your name?" Shawn asked, his voice still quiet yet filled with a tone he almost never used. The girl hesitated, but eventually nodded slowly, raising a hand to rub her eyes.

"A- Amanda," she stuttered.

"Amanda? Hey, Amanda, you're doing great, just hold on, okay? It's safe now. You're safe, okay? Amanda, just focus on my voice, and you'll be fine. One, two, three, four, right?" Shawn said, his calm voice causing Amanda to nod again, but she stopped rubbing her eyes and was down starting to cover her mouth with her hands as she gasped in time with Shawn's hand.

"Okay, Amanda, I want you to tell me about my shirt, okay? Can you describe it for me?" He asked, and Amanda looked away from Shawn's hand and stared him in the eyes questioningly. Shawn smiled encouragingly but explained nothing. Amanda looked down at his shirt.

"I-I-I-It's re-ed..." She spluttered out, continuing to shake. Shawn smiled brightly at her.

"Yes! See, you're doing great! Can you tell me what else?"

"... It's g-got blue st-" she gulped in another large chunk of air, let it out slowly, and then breathed in again. She continued. "..Stripes going side to s-side one it."

Shawn nodded. "Yes! See? Now we're talking! Okay, one being really good and ten being absolute shit, how are you feeling?" He questioned, and Amanda stared at him quizzically, letting out a small laugh at the oddness of the question before looking back at Shawn's still moving hand and re-adjusted herself to breathe to the motion of his hand. She took a while before replying.

"Seven?" She guessed, and Shawn's eyes lit up.

"See! You're doing great, Amanda," he said, his voice normal again and filled with joy, like making her laugh was his life-long dream.

Amanda fixed her hair, then wiped her eyes and her nose on her sleeve. Shawn wished he could have handed her a Kleenex.

"Thank you," she whispered, then wiped more tears off her face with a different part of her sleeve. "I haven't had a panic attack in a while... I didn't-"

"Hey, don't sweat it. I know how much they suck. Now, we should get you home. Don't worry about upsetting your boss or anything, Lassie'll take care of that later for you, okay?" He promised, standing up and extending a hand out to Amanda, helping her up too.

She nodded slowly. "Okay," she said quietly, then looked at the other people in the room.

Shawn pointed his finger to Lassiter, and they walked over to him. "This is Lassie. He's a bit of a grouch, but he means well. Lassie, this is Amanda," Shawn introduced, and Amanda looked a bit awkward, like she didn't want to be meeting anybody at that moment. Shawn smiled encouragingly at her, and she calmed down a bit, her facial features settling.

"Hi, I'm Detective... Ugh, I'm Lassie," Lassiter corrected wrongly when he saw Spencer glaring at him. "This is my partner, Detective O'Hara. Do you want a lift home? He asked. "Me or detective O'Hara could drive you."

The girl's eyes lit up a bit, and she nodded. "Yes, please. Thank you," She said, her voice quiet and a bit crackly, but she seemed much better. She looked back at Shawn.

"Do you want me to come as well?" Shawn asked, and the girl shook her head.

"No... I'll, I'll be fine, thank for. For... helping me," She said, and Shawn nodded.

"Well, come on. You're going to have to fill out a report, but we can drop the files off tomorrow. This case went by pretty quickly, compared to some of our cases, so there isn't a rush to get that done, just so long as it does get done. Come on, I'll drive you," Lassiter said, and Amanda nodded, seemingly okay with being driven by Carlton.

The two of them left the building, and Juliet stared at Shawn quizzically. The other cop left as well. "Shawn..." She started, and Shawn looked at her, waiting for her to continue. Juliet was about to say something, but seemed to have decided against it, opening and closing her mouth. "Good work," She said instead, and followed Carlton and Amanda out of the building.

Shawn and Gus shared looks again, and Shawn made an _alright_ face, causing Gus to roll his eyes. Again.

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is actually super old. I am bad at writing panic attacks, so if I got it wrong, I'm super sorry


End file.
